The invention relates to systems and methods for computer networking, and in particular to systems and methods for allowing flexibly upgrading computer server network connections.
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of electronic communication defines seven layers of functions that enable devices to exchange data over a network. Layer 1, also known as the Physical (PHY) layer, includes functions and devices responsible for the generation, reception, and transmission of physical signals over data links/physical media such as wires, optical fibers, or over the air for wireless transmission. Layer 2, also termed the Data Link layer, provides the hardware and functional means to transfer data between multiple network entities and to detect and possibly correct errors that may occur in the PHY layer. Under the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers) standard 802.3, better known under the name Ethernet, the Data Link layer is further divided into a Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer and a Logical Link Control (LLC) sublayer.
In a common computer system such as a server, a network interface controller (NIC) includes PHY and MAC devices, which may be provided as part of a motherboard or part of a dedicated network interface card connected to the motherboard via a connector such as a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) connector.
In recent years, strong demand for bandwidth has led to a progressive increase in the speed of NICs, leading to the recent advent of 10 Gbps Ethernet technology. 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps Ethernet devices are commonly built around a prevailing physical connection standard, twisted-pair or BASE-T. For 10 Gbps Ethernet devices, technical factors such as special power requirements have so far hindered the widespread adoption of a single physical connection standard. Examples of existing 10 Gbps physical connection solutions include 10 GBase-R, 10 GBase-LR, 10GBase-SR, 10GBase-LX4, 10GBase-T, and 10-Gbase-CX4, among others. The absence of an undisputed 10 Gbps physical connection standard poses special challenges to the widespread adoption of 10 Gbps networking technology in servers.